The Azure Podcast

Cynthia, Cale and Sujit chat about the plethora of IaaS VMs available and things to watch for when selecting the right VM SKU/Size. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode231.mp3   Other updates: 3 reasons why Azure’s infrastructure is secure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/3-reasons-why-azure-s-infrastructure-is-secure/ Azure Security Center can identify attacks targeting Azure App Service applications https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-security-center-can-identify-attacks-targeting-azure-app-service-applications/ VNet service endpoints for Azure database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL in preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/vnet-service-endpoints-for-azure-database-services-for-mysql-and-postgresql-in-preview/ Receiving and handling HTTP requests anywhere with the Azure Relay https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/receiving-and-handling-http-requests-anywhere-with-the-azure-relay/ New capabilities to enable robust GDPR compliance https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-capabilities-to-enable-robust-gdpr-compliance/ VSTS Visualize Progress https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts/release-notes/2018/may-30-vsts#visualize-release-progress

 More goodness from BUILD 2018 - this time a great discussion with Paul Yuknewicz and Cesar De La Torre on moving apps to Azure   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode230.mp3

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode229.mp3  

The first of many episodes recorded live at BUILD 2018. Audio file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode228.mp3    

Principal Software Engineer Richard Clawson from the Azure SRE team gives us the inside scoop on how his team keeps Azure running reliably.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode227.mp3   Other updates: Standard public IP addresses are static IP addresses that offer zone resiliency. Assign them to network interfaces or standard internet-facing load balancers. Global VNet Peering is available in all Azure public regions, excluding the China, Germany, and Azure Government regions.   SQL Data Warehouse Gen2 is generally available. Take advantage of five times the compute power and four times the concurrent queries. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/bring-the-power-of-serverless-to-your-iot-application-and-compete-for-cash-prizes/ Registration link: http://azurehacks.devpost.com/ Azure IoT on Serverless Hackathon New to Azure? New to serverless? Worry not! Check out this quick sample on how to capture data from your devices or sensors, perform aggregation, filtering or some other custom processing on this data, and store it on a database. $10,000 cash prize for the solution ranked 1st/ Azure Blog feature AzCopy on Linux now generally available https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azcopy-on-linux-now-generally-availble/ Microsoft extends AI support to PyTorch 1.0 deep learning framework https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-extends-ai-support-to-pytorch-1-0-deep-learning-framework/ Azure Marketplace new offers: April 1–15 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-marketplace-new-offers-for-april-1-15/ Microsoft Build: Come for the tech, stay for the party https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-build-come-for-the-tech-stay-for-the-party/

Thuru Vijayakumar, a Technology Architect at Tiqri and a Microsoft MVP for Azure. He gives us great advice on using API Management for various scenarios and tips and tricks to avoid common mistakes with the service. He is a hardcore developer and developed using many different languages from GW Basic, FoxPro, Pascal, C, C++, Visual Basic, Action Script, Java, C#, JavaScript, Go and the list grows. He’s authored two books Practical Azure Application Development in 2017 and Practical API Architecture and Development using Azure & AWS.  He also speaks at conference and you can check his blog www.thuru.net/blog. TIQRI Corporation is an international software engineering company using modern engineering and onshore-offshore collaboration practices. TIQRI is a Microsoft gold partner and an ISO27001 certified company for information security. The main development center is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka with offices in Australia, Norway, Singapore Sweden and Vietnam. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode226.mp3   Other updates:   Transparent Data Encryption with customer managed keys in Azure SQL Database generally available https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/transparent-data-encryption-with-customer-managed-keys-in-azure-sql-database-generally-available/ Preview: programmatically create Azure enterprise subscriptions using ARM APIs https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/programmatically-create-enterprise-subscriptions-preview/   Azure Marketplace new offers in March 2018 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-marketplace-new-offers-in-march-2018/  Azure Container Instances now generally available Azure Service Fabric – announcing Reliable Services on Linux and RHEL support Spring Data Azure Cosmos DB: NoSQL data access on Azure Azure DDoS Protection for virtual networks generally available Streamlining GDPR requests with the Azure portal   Post-show links: http://j.mp/ms-apim-whitepaper (Cloud-based API Management: Harnessing the Power of APIs)  

  We talk to Jeremy Hollett, a Principal Service Engineering Manager, about the CXP organization and how it helps both Azure internally as well its customers, gain the ultimate in reliability. Evan also works for the same organization so the two of them share some good insights. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode225.mp3   Other updates: We have added Azure Databricks notebook activity in Azure Data Factory. You can now operationalize your Databricks notebooks in Data Factory.   From   Azure Stream Analytics customers can now easily build solutions for scenarios such as connected cars, fleet management, and mobile asset tracking. Developers can use built-in geospatial functions in their stream-processing logic to define geographical areas. Developers can evaluate incoming geospatial data for containment, proximity, and overlap, and then generate alerts or start necessary workflows. These geospatial capabilities are in alignment with the GeoJSON specification. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/native-support-for-geospatial-functions   With Azure Stream Analytics, customers can combine the power of JavaScript with the simplicity and pervasiveness of SQL. Historically, Stream Analytics let developers express their real-time query logic by using a simple SQL-like language. To support more expressive custom code and help customers implement advanced scenarios, Stream Analytics now supports user-defined functions (UDFs) via JavaScript. With this feature, customers can write their custom code in JavaScript, and easily invoke it as part of their real-time stream processing query. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/javascript-udf-in-azure-stream-analytics/ The public preview of Azure Stream Analytics tools for Visual Studio includes support for local testing on client machines.   Announcing HTTP/2 support in Azure App Service https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appserviceteam/2018/04/13/announcing-http2-support-in-azure-app-service Azure Sphere https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-microsoft-azure-sphere-secure-and-power-the-intelligent-edge/ Altair democratizes access to computer-aided engineering with Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/altair-democratizes-access-to-computer-aided-engineering-with-azure/  

Senior Product Marketing Manager Sonya Koptyev talks to us about the Azure AI Platform and give us some great pointers on how to get started with AI. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode224.mp3   Other updates: Following last month's announcement of zone-redundant database support, Azure SQL Database is further expanding the power of databases and elastic pools by including read scale-out support in the Premium and Business Critical service tiers.  This capability redirects the read-only client connections to one of the automatically provisioned HA replicas and effectively doubles the compute capacity of the database or elastic pool at no additional charge. This is ideal for load balancing of complex analytical workloads without affecting the primary OLTP workload. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-of-read-scale-out-support/ Azure DevTest Labs is now available in Azure Government. With this availability, US government agencies and their partners can modernize their legacy infrastructure to build fast, easy, and lean environments. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-source-volume-26/ Offline media import for Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/offline-media-import-for-azure/ Achieving GDPR compliance in the cloud with Microsoft Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/achieving-gdpr-compliance-in-the-cloud-with-microsoft-azure/ Three common analytics use cases with Microsoft Azure Databricks https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/three-critical-analytics-use-cases-with-microsoft-azure-databricks/  

Kendall, Cynthia, Evan and Cale discuss a fundamental feature of Azure - Storage! They talk about the various possibilities to store data in Azure and break down the use-cases for each of those options. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode223.mp3 Indexed audio: https://www.videoindexer.ai/media/f5cfe87096/ Resources: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/storage/databox/ https://www.microsoft.com/handsonlabs/   Other updates: Public preview: Event Hubs for Go https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/event-hubs-go-preview Microsoft peering on ExpressRoute Standard SKU now available Microsoft peering with route filters is now available for Azure ExpressRoute Standard SKU. You can access Azure PaaS services, such as Azure SQL Database and Azure Storage, that are offered on a public IP address within the geopolitical zone of your ExpressRoute circuit. See more information about geopolitical zones. As a result of this new functionality, can no longer create new Azure public peering configurations. Existing Azure public peering configurations will continue to be supported, though we recommend moving to Microsoft peering with route filters.  For more information on this new functionality, see the documentation.  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/microsoft-peering-on-expressroute-standard/ New Microsoft Azure regions available for Australia and New Zealand Two new Microsoft Azure regions in Australia are available to customers, making Microsoft the only global provider to deliver cloud services specifically designed to address the requirements of the Australian and New Zealand governments and critical national infrastructure, including banks, utilities, transport and telecommunications. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-microsoft-azure-regions-available-for-australia-and-new-zealand 2018 Global Azure Bootcamp coming up April 21st, 2018 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/globalazure-bootcamp-2018/ Global Azure is an unstoppable force of thirst for knowledge with 244 locations in 68 countries! SQL Database: Long-term backup retention preview includes major updates https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/sql-database-long-term-backup-retention-preview-includes-major-updates/ A flexible new way to purchase Azure SQL Database https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/a-flexible-new-way-to-purchase-azure-sql-database/ Azure IoT Hub is driving down the cost of IoT https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-iot-hub-is-driving-down-the-cost-of-iot/ Azure DevOps Projects now supports Windows VMs as deployment targets (as opposed to Azure Web App, and Web App for containers) for ASP.NET and ASP.NET core web applications. This addition is the first of several planned expansions to Azure DevOps projects scenarios which allow developers to create full CI/CD pipelines in minutes from the Azure portal powered by Visual Studio Team Services.  A new Azure DevOps project gives you a git repository with application code, automated CI/CD pipeline that for the written framework (.NET, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python), option to add SQL database, and application insight that monitors the application and helps diagnose issues and understand how the application is currently being used.  

Sean Watson, a Senior PM in the Azure Portal team, talks to us about the thinking behind the design of the portal and shares tips 'n tricks for getting the most out of the portal.   Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode222.mp3 Indexed audio: https://www.videoindexer.ai/media/e225a07aab/ Azure Portal user voice: http://aka.ms/azp/uservoice Azure Portal preview environment: https://preview.portal.azure.com (Early access to new functionality!) Azure Portal twitter: https://twitter.com/azureportal My twitter: https://twitter.com/seanwatson3   Other updates: Soft delete for Azure Storage Blobs now in public preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/soft-delete-for-azure-storage-blobs-now-in-public-preview/ How Catania secures public data with Azure SQL Data Warehouse https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/how-catania-secures-public-data-with-azure-sql-data-warehouse/ Azure DNS Private Zones now available in public preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-dns-private-zones-now-available-in-public-preview/ General availability: Disable BGP route propagation for virtual network routes If you're connecting your virtual network by using Azure ExpressRoute or VPN gateways, you can disable routing through BGP by simply adding a property in your route tables. Public preview: Virtual machine serial console Virtual machine serial console is now public preview. This feature allows bidirectional serial console access to your virtual machines. The preview is available in global Azure regions. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-serial-console  Deprecating Service Management API support for Azure App Service Azure Service Management support will be retired on June 30, 2018. After that, Azure App Service resource management will be supported only through Azure Resource Manager. The Service Management APIs are not well suited for the modern cloud. Supporting Service Management APIs any longer will hold us back from delivering a premium developer experience and control at plane scale. Customers currently using the Service Management APIs will be better served by moving to Resource Manager. Resource Manager has many benefits over Service Management, like a robust deployment model, role-based access, and better API support for features. For more information about the difference between Service Management and Resource Manager, see the TechNet blog. For more information about the deprecation of Service Management APIs, see the App Service blog announcement. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/deprecating-service-management-apis-support-for-azure-app-service